1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to an operator-actuated information retrieval system, specifically to an apparatus for recording a customer's music selections onto a compact disk.
2. Description of Prior Art
Currently, if a consumer wishes to own compact disk recordings of his or her favorite musical selections, he or she has several options, each of which has drawbacks. The first option is to buy the "album-sized" CD's, each of which typically contains 8 to 10 musical selections by the same performer. Even if the consumer is only interested in 1 or 2 of the songs on the CD, he or she must pay for all of the selections.
A second option is to buy the "single-sized" CD. This is a smaller CD containing only 1 or 2 selections. This option allows the consumer to better target his or her purchases to only those musical selections that he or she is interested in. The problem with these CD's is that the listening time is quite brief before the CD has to be manually changed, unless a more expensive CD player with a large capacity automatic changer is used. A second problem is that the availability and selection of these types of CD's is more limited than the album-sized CD.
A third option is to buy an expensive CD recording system, and to record his or her favorite hits off of the radio. This method requires a great deal of personal time, and results in less than satisfactory recordings including unwanted commercials or disc jockey voices, and partially cut-off songs.
A solution to these drawbacks would be to provide a compact disk vending system which produces a single compact disk containing several individual music selections made by a customer. Although compact disk recording systems and computer-controlled vending systems are currently available, there is presently no wholly integrated unit which combines the functions of these systems to produce compact disks containing a customer's musical selections.